The objective of this breeding program was primarily to develop a plant with the following characteristics:
(a) Decorative and unobtrusive foliage, sparse enough to permit close underplanting with annuals or perennials. PA0 (b) A clear pink flower of real elegance rather than mere size. PA0 (c) A plant of medium size, of good form and habit, and of good landscaping quality.
The hybridization was conducted over a period of years using as seed parent "Lady Baltimore," which first bloomed in 1972. The ancestry of "Lady Baltimore" includes Hibiscus militaris, Hibiscus coccineus, Hibiscus moscheutos, and Hibiscus palustris. As far as possible, pollen was exclusively delivered from selected pink-flowered hibiscus plants of many varieties, all of which had one or more poor qualities (coarse, hairy foliage; stiff, heavy flowers; sprawling habit of growth; and so forth). Selections were continuously made from the seedlings so derived, and the best of these were used for backcrossing.
The new plant produced its first flower in the summer of 1977, and because of the beautiful coloring and substance of its blooms, together with its attractive foliage and habit of growth, it was selected for reproduction and test. Asexual propagation of this new plant by cuttings and division was carried on at College Park, Md., and observation of the progeny of the original plant has demonstrated that this new variety has fulfilled the objective and that its distinctive characteristics are firmly fixed and hold true from generation to generation vegetatively propagated from the original clone.